Tanya Ballard Brownhttp://iowapublicradio.org
enPeople Be Triflin', From 'Bills, Bills, Bills' To The Biblehttp://iowapublicradio.org/post/people-be-triflin-bills-bills-bills-bible
<p>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiF6-0UTqtc</p>Sun, 28 Sep 2014 18:47:00 +0000Tanya Ballard Brown47192 at http://iowapublicradio.orgPeople Be Triflin', From 'Bills, Bills, Bills' To The BibleHow 'Sassy' Came To Mean Something Both Sweet And Sourhttp://iowapublicradio.org/post/how-sassy-came-mean-something-both-sweet-and-sour
<p>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AajslFuPro</p><p>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnvgq8STMGM</p><p>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPpIuq4WMe0</p>Sun, 31 Aug 2014 14:09:00 +0000Tanya Ballard Brown46021 at http://iowapublicradio.orgHow 'Sassy' Came To Mean Something Both Sweet And SourHow About A Coke? Warhol Painting Up For Grabshttp://iowapublicradio.org/post/how-about-coke-warhol-painting-grabs
On Tuesday, artist Andy Warhol's oversized and iconic <em>Coca-Cola (3)</em> will <a href="http://www.christies.com/about/press-center/releases/pressrelease.aspx?pressreleaseid=6701">hit the auction block at Christie's</a>, and to borrow an old slogan from the company, It's The Real Thing.<p>Warhol painted the 6-foot-tall black-and-white canvas in 1962 as part of a series of four Coke bottle paintings.Tue, 12 Nov 2013 20:35:00 +0000Tanya Ballard Brown32004 at http://iowapublicradio.orgHow About A Coke? Warhol Painting Up For GrabsWhy Didn't The Store Just Let Oprah Buy The $38,000 Handbag?http://iowapublicradio.org/post/why-didnt-store-just-let-oprah-buy-38000-handbag
On the list of things to be outraged about at the moment, I'll admit this isn't at the top: The Swiss tourism office apologized to Oprah on Friday because she wasn't allowed to buy a $38,000 designer handbag while recently shopping in Switzerland. Poor lil' Oprah. *sad face*<p>It does make me wonder, though, can you ever be rich enough or famous enough or beautiful enough to not be racially profiled while shopping?<p>First, here's what happened.Sat, 10 Aug 2013 08:38:00 +0000Tanya Ballard Brown27249 at http://iowapublicradio.orgAwkwardly Awaiting The Zimmerman Trial's Outcomehttp://iowapublicradio.org/post/awkwardly-awaiting-zimmerman-trials-outcome
<p>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRUfzs6I4jk</p>Fri, 12 Jul 2013 20:21:00 +0000Tanya Ballard Brown23900 at http://iowapublicradio.orgAwkwardly Awaiting The Zimmerman Trial's OutcomeIf This Cute Cheerios Ad Causes Drama, What Won't?http://iowapublicradio.org/post/if-cute-cheerios-ad-causes-drama-what-wont
<p>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYofm5d5Xdw</p><p>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHh0bqD78b0</p>Sat, 01 Jun 2013 11:03:00 +0000Tanya Ballard Brown21738 at http://iowapublicradio.orgIf This Cute Cheerios Ad Causes Drama, What Won't?Easy Rawlins Is Alive, Or Is He? http://iowapublicradio.org/post/easy-rawlins-alive-or-he
I've been following Easy Rawlins since reading <em>Devil in a Blue Dress </em>in the '90s. That's a lot of time to give to a character. And as I read <em>Little Green,</em> I realized that I hadn't been following Easy, the character, all these years. In the past I was more invested in other parts of the stories.<p>I had enjoyed the cases Easy solved, and the way his creator Walter Mosley laid out Los Angeles and the complicated relationship between whites, blacks and Latinos in post-World War II California.Wed, 15 May 2013 11:03:00 +0000Tanya Ballard Brown20794 at http://iowapublicradio.orgEasy Rawlins Is Alive, Or Is He? American Tribe Fights To Halt Artifact Auction In Parishttp://iowapublicradio.org/post/american-tribe-fights-halt-artifact-auction-paris
An auction of sacred Native American artifacts scheduled for Friday in Paris is stirring up controversy on both sides of the Atlantic<p><a href="http://catalogue.drouot.com/indexDrouot.jsp?id=15197">Seventy Hopi "visages and headdresses</a>" — some more than 100 years old — will go on the block at the Neret-Minet Tessier & Sarrou auction house, which estimates the sale will bring in about $1 million, according to <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/04/arts/design/hopi-tribe-wants-to-stop-paris-auction-of-artifacts.html"><em>The New York Times</em></a><em>.Wed, 10 Apr 2013 19:50:00 +0000Tanya Ballard Brown19023 at http://iowapublicradio.orgCan U.S. Embassies Be Safe Without Being Unsightly? http://iowapublicradio.org/post/can-us-embassies-be-safe-without-being-unsightly
There's been a tug of war between aesthetically pleasing and safe when it comes to American embassies around the world.<p>Many embassies have been slammed as bunkers, bland cubes and lifeless compounds. Even the new Secretary of State John Kerry said just a few years ago, "We are building some of the ugliest embassies I've ever seen."<p>But the choice between gardens and gates isn't just academic for diplomats — it can affect the way they work.Tue, 26 Feb 2013 22:24:00 +0000Tanya Ballard Brown16509 at http://iowapublicradio.orgCan U.S. Embassies Be Safe Without Being Unsightly? No More 'Negro' For Census Bureau Forms And Surveyshttp://iowapublicradio.org/post/no-more-negro-census-bureau-forms-and-surveys
The Census Bureau announced Monday that it would drop the word "Negro" from its forms, after some described it as offensive. <a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i9Zk7ZwWM_p1_fHcNaRGp2rbyqlg?docId=45db7a55f5f540e4b1e121693c370ea7">According to the Associated Press</a>, the term will be replaced next year by black or African-American. From the AP:<p><blockquote><p>"The change will take effect next year when the Census Bureau distributes its annual American Community Survey to more than 3.5 million U.S.Mon, 25 Feb 2013 18:24:00 +0000Tanya Ballard Brown15977 at http://iowapublicradio.orgNo More 'Negro' For Census Bureau Forms And SurveysGame On! Rare 1865 Baseball Card Sold For $80,000http://iowapublicradio.org/post/game-rare-1865-baseball-card-tossed-auction-block
<strong>Update at 8:06 p.m. ET. Card Sells For $80,000</strong><p>The nearly 150-year-old <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooklyn_Atlantics">Brooklyn Atlantics</a> baseball card that was was discovered late last year in a photo album bought at a yard sale has sold for $80,000 — $92,000 if you count the auction house's buyer's premium.<p>The buyer, <a href="http://www.pressherald.com/news/Rare-baseball-card-sells-for-80000-at-Biddeford-auction-house.html" target="_blank">the<em> Portland Press Herald</em> reports</a>, was Jason LeBlanc of Newburyport, Mass.Wed, 06 Feb 2013 21:13:00 +0000Tanya Ballard Brown14607 at http://iowapublicradio.orgGame On! Rare 1865 Baseball Card Sold For $80,000Dear Lawyers: Order In The &*%# Court!http://iowapublicradio.org/post/dear-lawyers-order-court
<p>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BofddwtPBPw</p>Thu, 31 Jan 2013 17:07:00 +0000Tanya Ballard Brown14295 at http://iowapublicradio.orgDear Lawyers: Order In The &*%# Court!Our Pancakes Are Saved! Charges Filed In Canadian Maple Syrup Heisthttp://iowapublicradio.org/post/our-pancakes-are-saved-charges-filed-canadian-maple-syrup-heist
After months on their sticky trail, Canadian police have finally fingered the people allegedly involved in the great Canadian maple syrup caper <a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2012/08/31/160401054/thieves-hit-warehouse-holding-30-million-of-canadian-maple-syrup">Bill Chappell told us about in August</a>.<p>While police interviewed 300 people, they didn't let that sap their strength — and on Tuesday, three men were expected in court to answer charges related to the theft of the estimated $22 million in maple syrup.Tue, 18 Dec 2012 23:23:00 +0000Tanya Ballard Brown12236 at http://iowapublicradio.orgOur Pancakes Are Saved! Charges Filed In Canadian Maple Syrup HeistA Black And White 1860s Fundraiserhttp://iowapublicradio.org/post/black-and-white-1860s-fundraiser
They look like any other 19th century vignettes and portraits of children kneeling in prayer or cloaked in the U.S. flag.<p>But these cartes de visite (a calling card with a portrait mounted on it that was all the rage during the 1860s) featured Charles, Rebecca and Rosa — former slave children who looked white.<p>I saw a couple of the cards on Tumblr and wanted to know more about them, so I called Mary Niall Mitchell, associate professor of history at the University of New Orleans.Mon, 10 Dec 2012 18:35:00 +0000Tanya Ballard Brown11826 at http://iowapublicradio.orgA Black And White 1860s FundraiserHow Did Thanksgiving End Up On Thursday?http://iowapublicradio.org/post/how-did-thanksgiving-end-thursday
Move Thanksgiving to Friday? That's what <a href="http://ourpresidents.tumblr.com/image/36213219877" target="_blank">F.B. Haviland asked President Hoover</a> in 1929.<p>Didn't happen. But while we're on the subject, ever wonder why we carve our gobblers on the fourth Thursday of November? Hint: It's not because Thanksgiving Thursday is more alliterative than Thanksgiving Friday.<p>In 1789, President Washington declared Thurs., Nov. 26, as a "Day of Publick Thanksgivin," <a href="http://www.archives.gov/legislative/features/thanksgiving/">according to the National Archives</a>.Wed, 21 Nov 2012 19:10:00 +0000Tanya Ballard Brown11089 at http://iowapublicradio.orgHow Did Thanksgiving End Up On Thursday?'Vintage Black Glamour' Exposes Little-Known Cultural Historyhttp://iowapublicradio.org/post/vintage-black-glamour-exposes-little-known-cultural-history
I was scrolling through <a href="http://tballardbrown.tumblr.com/">my Tumblr feed</a> a year or so ago, when I saw a <a href="http://vintageblackglamour.tumblr.com/post/2851018632/joyce-bryant-by-carl-vechten-by-all-accounts">photo of Joyce Bryant</a>. The caption said she was once dubbed the "black Marilyn Monroe" and was mentioned many times in <a href="http://www.radiohof.org/news/walterwinchell.html">Walter Winchell</a>'s gossip column.<p>But, I had never heard of or seen Bryant before.Fri, 12 Oct 2012 14:11:00 +0000Tanya Ballard Brown9293 at http://iowapublicradio.org'Vintage Black Glamour' Exposes Little-Known Cultural HistoryRecord High Prices At The Gas Pump Likely To Linger In California http://iowapublicradio.org/post/record-high-prices-gas-pump-likely-linger-california
Gas prices spiked overnight Thursday by as much as 20 cents per gallon in parts of California, causing some stations to close and shocking many customers.<p>According to <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=162344533">The Associated Press,</a> the average price of regular gas across the state was nearly $4.49 a gallon. In other parts of the country, gas prices have fallen. South Carolina has the lowest average gas prices in the continental U.S.Fri, 05 Oct 2012 17:20:00 +0000Tanya Ballard Brown8994 at http://iowapublicradio.orgRecord High Prices At The Gas Pump Likely To Linger In California Text-Talented Or R U All Thumbs?http://iowapublicradio.org/post/text-talented-or-r-u-all-thumbs
Back in front of my computer where thankfully I can use more than my thumbs to type, I see that Austin Wierschke of Rhinelander, Wis., <a href="https://www.facebook.com/lgtexterus">grabbed the title again</a> at the competition in New York City this afternoon. He's the first texting competitor to win back-to-back titles.<p>Last year, <a href="http://youtu.be/yWfxTYlFOXM">finalist Rachel Taylor Blakely said</a> she practiced by texting her friends AND texting the words from her schoolbooks.Wed, 08 Aug 2012 22:32:00 +0000Tanya Ballard Brown6013 at http://iowapublicradio.orgText-Talented Or R U All Thumbs?My Kinky Relationship With The Teeny Weenie Afrohttp://iowapublicradio.org/post/my-kinky-relationship-teeny-weenie-afro
I cut most of my hair off eight weeks ago. And yes, I meant to do it. I love my new kinky curliness and now, as I walk down the street, I feel like I see natural hair — twists, coils, dreadlocks, afros — everywhere.<p>Among the kinky curly community the "big chop" is when you cut off your relaxed hair and wear a TWA or teeny weenie afro. This is usually not a decision taken lightly.Thu, 14 Jun 2012 11:03:00 +0000Tanya Ballard Brown3157 at http://iowapublicradio.orgMy Kinky Relationship With The Teeny Weenie Afro